Hallmark Channel

Loughlin’s career and the Hallmark Channel were deeply intertwined. She’s been among its so-called “Christmas queens” who topline a slate of popular holiday movies, and also starred in the ongoing Garage Sale Mysteries movies and the series When Calls the Heart. The move came after a federal investigation of a college admissions scam involving more than 30 parents, many of them prominent, was revealed Tuesday

Donald J. Hall Jr., chief executive officer of Hallmark Cards, announced that Hallmark has completed the short-form merger with Crown Media Holdings, home of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and has taken the company private.

Two of the hottest cable networks don’t have dark dramas about bloodthirsty zombies, drug-addicted hackers or Russian spies. Instead, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries rely on a feel-good diet of romance, holidays and family. Its saccharine programming has always been popular with viewers over the age of 50. Now it is striking a chord with Gen Xers as well.